The Jade Gentleman - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“Bao’er!”

Yin Congjian was startled for an instant, a flush swiftly spreading from the corners of his eyes to the tips of his brows. He lifted his face and, enduring his embarrassment, said, “The Buddhist temple is a place of pure cultivation… In front of the Bodhisattva, you mustn’t speak recklessly.”

I looked at him quietly. “Second Brother can close his eyes.”

That way, he wouldn’t be able to see the Bodhisattva.

Yin Congjian still refused.

He shut his eyes briefly, his tone helpless. “I may not be able to see the Bodhisattva, but the Bodhisattva can see me… Bao’er, this isn’t proper.”

I had been rejected.

A faint displeasure rose in my heart, and a trace of it showed on my face. “…Isn’t Second Brother Bao’er’s?”

Yin Congjian raised his face and gazed at me tenderly.

A faint smile curved his lips, his expression indulgent. “Of course Second Brother is Bao’er’s… But we are not yet married. How could we cast aside propriety and do something that oversteps the bounds?”

Propriety, propriety-again with propriety!

In the dream, he had taken the initiative to kiss someone else without the slightest hesitation, yet now, when I wanted to kiss him, he turned me down every which way!

Rejected once again.

This time, I was truly angry.

Looking coldly down at the person before me, I lifted my chin, and despite myself, my words carried a hint of accusation.

“Back then, when I asked whether Second Brother was willing to be my fiancé, Second Brother agreed. When I asked if you could like only Bao’er alone, Second Brother agreed to that too. You even said that as long as I wanted it, you would give me anything… And now all I want is to kiss you, yet you won’t even allow that!”

After hearing my complaint, Yin Congjian was momentarily speechless, and the helplessness on his handsome face only deepened.

“Bao’er…”

He sighed softly, a thin blush rising over his face. “Second Brother is willing to let Bao’er kiss him. Once we are married, Bao’er can do whatever she wants…”

I didn’t want to hear any of that.

Frowning, I cut him off abruptly. “Second Brother, I dislike you a little now.”

Yin Congjian’s expression went pale at once.

He had always understood me.

I never lied.

If I said I disliked him, then I truly disliked him.

“Bao’er.”

He called my name with difficulty. Kneeling on the prayer cushion, Yin Congjian looked up at me with wounded eyes, a bitter smile touching the corner of his lips. “…I’m sorry, Bao’er. It’s all Second Brother’s fault. Second Brother is too dull and has made Bao’er unhappy.”

“Bao’er can do whatever she wants.”

His fingertips restrainedly caught the hem of my skirt. Heartbreak surfaced in Yin Congjian’s eyes, and his expression turned sorrowful. “Just… Bao’er, don’t dislike me, all right?”

“I didn’t say I disliked you.”

Seeing him so at a loss, I was somewhat puzzled. “Second Brother, I only said I disliked you a little.”

“You can’t!”

Yin Congjian straightened, his pitch-black eyes fixed tightly on me. The large hand clutching my skirt had tightened until the knuckles had gone stark white, yet he seemed entirely unaware of it. He only stared at me stubbornly and said, “Bao’er cannot dislike Second Brother… Not even a little bit!”

I opened my mouth and was just about to say something when he interrupted me softly. “Let’s not say things that make people sad… Does Bao’er still want to kiss Second Brother?”

After thinking for a moment, I nodded honestly.

“I do.”

At that answer, some color finally returned to Yin Congjian’s face.

Without making a sound, he moved closer to me, then lifted that face of his, beautiful as polished jade. “…Then Bao’er may come and kiss Second Brother.”

For an instant, my expression went dazed.

Then I lowered my head and kissed his beautifully shaped lips.

That softness, unlike anything I had ever felt before, was truly wondrous. I couldn’t help cupping Yin Congjian’s face and kissing him again and again.

I kissed him until the rims of his ears turned scarlet and a shimmering mist gathered in his eyes.

“Bao’er…”

He called my name unsteadily, and that was all he had time to say.

The rest of his words were swallowed between our lips and teeth.

By evening, I returned to my meditation room in a rather good mood, my lips red and swollen.

The dream really had been fake.

Yin Congjian was still mine, Xiao Bao’er’s.

So I thought.

Then, that very night, I dreamed again.

In the dream, it was still Yin Congjian and that unfamiliar woman whose face I couldn’t make out, except the place had changed.

This time, they were not on that pomegranate-flower couch, but in a bath.

Second Brother, who had been so shy while kissing me during the day, was now wantonly undressing in front of someone else.

I watched helplessly as he stripped himself bare.

Furious, I let out a scream.

And woke from the dream once more.

I lay in bed for a long while, my expression dark and gloomy.

Before dawn, dressed in my nightclothes with my hair loose over my shoulders, I barged into Yin Congjian’s meditation room.

I sat on top of him and immediately began tugging at his clothes.

Yin Congjian startled awake.

Realizing it was me, he said in a hoarse voice, “Bao’er?”

“Second Brother.”

In the gloom of the room, I stared down at the man beneath me, my expression dangerous.

“…Take off your clothes. Bao’er wants to see.”